News and Announcements

President's Notes V.15

February 11, 2016

Community

As part of this year’s learning and teaching theme – “Masks” – the Department of Humanities and the Heritage Studies Graduate Program, alongside student organizations LASO, CVSA and SOCA, hosted a Carnival Celebration on Tuesday, February 9, in the Lower Student Union. Made possible through a Regis Co-Curricular Grant spearheaded by Dr. Lucia Ortiz and Dr. Alison MacAdams, students and faculty delivered presentations on the origins and history of carnival (carne vale “goodbye to meat”) in countries such as Brazil, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cape Verde, Colombia, and Mexico – and locally in the United States in New Orleans and other cities with a French connection, where Mardi Gras or “Fat Tuesday” is celebrated. As is traditional for carnival, there was music and mask-making since the day before Ash Wednesday is a day to remember one’s sins and prepare to expunge them; hence the parades in costumes and masks as all the sins exit the scene. And there was also plenty of food before the Lenten season of fasting begins!

So, naturally and gracefully, Ash Wednesday followed yesterday, February 10, marking the beginning of Lent, and Regis chaplain Father Paul Kilroy offered the liturgy of the Eucharist at noon in the College Chapel, as is our custom. He and graduate assistant Jeff Parrish distributed ashes. I am always touched by this particular annual assembly as faculty, staff, students, and guests together quietly turn toward our deeper purpose and start the walk toward Easter.

Students

The Journal of Professional Nursing (vol. 31 Number 6 [Nov.-Dec., 2015] has officially announced that the American Associate of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) named six nursing students to its National Leadership Council of the Graduate Nursing Student Academy (GNSA) – including our very own Cassandra Godzik – for a term of two years. According to the AACN President, “AACN applauds the new GNSA council members for their courage to lead and their commitment to advocating on behalf of their fellow nursing students nationwide.” Cassandra is one of the founding members of the Regis Graduate Student Nurses Association along with Lauren Ghazal. Congratulations, Cassandra!

Graduate Career Services has planned some wonderful events to connect students with some excellent employers:

Employers are participating to interview prospective MSNs. The list of participating employers is available. Graduate Career Services will work with employers to schedule the interviews. Register here.

“The Business of Health Care” Career Night: March 3, 5-7pm, College Hall Foyer

Join Regis at this unique “reverse career fair” professional event. Students and alumni will have the opportunity to hear from various employers representing different types of healthcare organizations throughout the healthcare industry. Each representative will describe his or her organization, populations served, and job opportunities within health administration, public health and health informatics. Everyone in attendance will have the opportunity to network with employer representatives and present resumes. Register here.

“Speed Networking” for Undergraduates: March 16, 6-8:30pm, College Hall Foyer

Come and meet our alumni from all fields for a fun night of speed networking! Open to all students. Dinner provided! Register here.

Regis students and alumni will have the opportunity to learn of the various types of nurse faculty, research and clinical instructor roles available within area colleges and universities. Representatives from nursing departments within the institutions will have a conversation about their hiring needs at the present and throughout the semester. All are invited to bring their resumes and prepare for informational interviews. Register here.

For additional information about any of these events, contact Kaitlynn Arvidson, Manager of Graduate Career Placement and the Institute for Advancing Studies at kaitlynn.arvidson@regiscollege.edu.

On January 30, the Regis Chamber Singers performed at the Needham Rotary Club's third annual Music Awards, a singing competition featuring collegiate and community musicians from all over the area. For the contest, each musical group received ten minutes on stage, and then a panel of three judges evaluated the group on creativity, musical quality, stage presence, and entertainment value. In addition to the judges, each audience member was given a ballot, which all together equaled the vote of a fourth panelist judge. I am proud to say that our singers were just two votes shy of first place! Their score from the judge panelists had them tied for first place, and then the audience votes allowed another act to win by just two audience members' votes. Here is a picture of the group with Assistant Professor Elizabeth Smith just before departing Regis for the performance. Chamber singers are: Seniors Laura Holland and Nicole Derosa, Juniors Marisa Eddlem and Blessing Ajaero, Sophomores Ebeny Torres, Kira Tsen, and John Lewis, and Freshman Alex Appalon. The singers will be performing in Florence, Italy too! Several singers are part of a class taught this semester by Kate Edney and Nicoletta Pelligrino on food and culture in Italy, which involves traveling to Italy and, while there, performing some of the most recent Glee Club repertoire.

Of course, part of the Lenten journey at Regis includes preparation for the spring community service trip to Peru and its fund-raising dinner. This year the Regalos Dinner will take place on February 25. Save the date and book your reservation at the Center for Ministry and Service!

Faculty & Staff

Danqing Xiao, Assistant Professor of Biology and Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program Director, has published an article – “Acupuncture for Parkinson's Disease: a Review of Clinical, Animal, and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Studies” – in PubMed, which gathers together more than 25 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. In ever advancing medical and scientific fields, keeping up with the research is a job in itself. DQ has been working on this particular article on-and-off for two years. Congratulations to you, DQ!

Last week Denise Soccio, Assistant Professor of Nursing, conducted psychiatric simulations with 24 students and live actors from the Regis Theater Department. I heard that Denise did a superb job providing our students with realistic scenarios, and students were engaged. With the addition of these kind of simulations, now all pre-licensure clinical nursing courses are utilizing simulation. Thank you, Denise, for a terrific day of teaching and learning, and thank you Regis Theater Department!

Members of the Communications Committee recently participated in a survey conducted by Denterlein, our communications consultant, and gathered together last Wednesday afternoon, February 3, for a couple of hours to brainstorm on where the Committee needs and wants to go in order to better brand and communicate Regis, both internally and externally. The brainstorming session was excellent as a lot of talented people were right on with their insights and forthright with their concerns and hopes. Next Wednesday, February 17, the group will discuss a memo from Denterlein outlining some specific group action items and forming some action groups within the Committee.

President’s Office

Besides a rash of snowstorms, my days this month have been filled with various Board Committee meetings and planning sessions. As you know, we have also begun our campus-wide strategic planning process, and I am very eager to hear the priorities the faculty of each School, the staff members in each AC area, the Members of the Directors’ Council, and other campus “constituents” have identified. Next Tuesday, February 16, the Administrative Council and I will meet for a day-long retreat that will include the review of those priorities and formulation of new or revised objectives to continue moving Regis toward our designated goals.

May I express my thanks to the Search Committee for a Director of Diversity and Inclusion and all who participated in interviews of three candidates January 26, 27, and 28: Dr. M. J. Doherty, Chair; faculty members Lucia Ortiz and Michelle Cromwell; staff members Mark DaRocha, Erin Wisniewski, and Zak Harris, and HR Associate Director Jen Hunt. I expect soon to be able to send around an announcement of the person I have chosen for the position. The next issue of President Notes will come out on Thursday, February 25, 2016. Meantime, Happy Valentine’s Day!